Iran’s president in wartime address at UN: We have been ‘victims of terrorism’

“We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists,” Mr Pezeshkian said at the General Assembly.

“Our innocent people have been the targets of cowardly attacks and aggressions imposed upon our country. And we defended ourselves with utmost strength. America and Israel attacked us.”

He added of the United States: “Yes, they did hit us, but we did not bend the knee.”

Arriving in New York under heavy security and scrutiny, Mr Pezeshkian — who, within Iran’s political landscape, is considered a moderate politician — will address world leaders a day after Mr Trump used the same stage to suggest he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war.

Hours later, Mr Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met for about three hours with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering.

He offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange.

Mr Trump said: “It was a very good meeting.”

The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something”.

Also on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Mr Trump is open to meeting with Mr Pezeshkian while he’s in New York.

But Tehran downplayed Tuesday’s unscheduled exchange, which was the first indirect talks between US and Iranian officials since a June ceasefire unravelled.

Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, maintained the country’s negotiating position in talks with US officials, demanding that Washington end its blockade of Iranian ports and release frozen Iranian assets.

Mr Baghaei said the talks — conducted indirectly through Qatari mediators — were “not anything new”.

Mr Pezeshkian will have the chance to elaborate on where Tehran stands as more than a year of start-stop negotiations between the two long-time adversaries have failed to produce a sustainable solution.

His speech comes as intermittent attacks continue in the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s coast, where commercial shipping remained below pre-war levels.

His address last year was months after the 12-day Israel-Iran war, which saw the assassination of many of the Islamic Republic’s highest military and political leaders and once again broke down weeks of negotiations with the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you all bore witness that this past June, my country was subjected to a savage aggression and flagrant contravention of the most elementary principles of international law,” Mr Pezeshkian said at the time.